


A Feet Finding Mission

by Galadriel1010



Category: Class (TV 2016), Torchwood
Genre: Case Fic, M/M, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-11
Updated: 2017-05-26
Packaged: 2018-09-23 10:23:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9651740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Galadriel1010/pseuds/Galadriel1010
Summary: Murders, disappearances and the occasional invasion have finally caught the attention of the authorities. Torchwood and the Bunghole Defence Squad unite to protect Coal Hill, but when Charlie is separated from them it's him who needs protecting, and in 1963 Torchwood isn't a protector for a lost alien. CoE didn't happen.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I recently got into Class, and it reminded me of how much I've always loved writing, and especially of how much I loved writing Torchwood. Very quickly, I decided that I wanted to bring my two loves together. In many ways this is a story of me. I was the kids' age when I first saw Torchwood, and now I'm older than Ianto was when he died. It's about two relationships, two very different groups of people, and about the way that however old we are and whatever stage of our lives we're in, we want the same things.
> 
> It's also about Torchwood London being dicks.

Charlie looked down the corridor nervously, and felt the knots in his stomach unravel when he saw Matteusz and Tanya in the middle of the crowd. Someone shouldered him out of the way and he ignored them, reaching for Matteusz's hand as soon as he was in reach and standing on his toes to kiss him, quick and chaste.

"He's only been gone half an hour," Tanya reminded him. "God, you two."

"So?" Matteusz dropped his bag on April's usual desk and gestured to Ram's. "Charlie, Ram is not here."

He didn't need to be told twice. Tanya sat down in front of them and dragged her books out of her bag onto the table noisily. "Still no Miss Quill," she observed loudly.

One of the boys from Charlie's form answered before him. "She's sick, isn't she? We've got another temp in."

"There's something going around," one of the girls muttered. "There's always something going around Coal Hill. How long do you reckon before this one disappears too?"

"Might make it to Christmas," the first suggested, looking back over his shoulder at her. "If the weird doesn't scare him off, the year 11s will."

There was laughter, and Charlie was amused to see that the young man who'd just entered the room joined in. "Don't worry," he said, and they all span back to face front and slammed into their seats. "I've been warned about year 11."

"Sorry sir. It was a joke."

"That's alright. We all need some of those." The young man smiled pleasantly, and Charlie privately agreed that he wasn't going to last long. He was even wearing a red shirt. Clearly not any sort of pop culture geek. He had a nice accent, not local to London and his tie was immaculate; he was even wearing a waistcoat under his suit jacket. Charlie glanced at Matteusz, whose eyes were fixed on their new teacher, and sighed. Alright, so he was cute, but not that cute. Was he?

"Are you all sitting in any sort of order? Alphabetical, perhaps?" He looked up at a sea of blank faces and shook his head. "I thought not. Alright, well, let's get started anyway. I know Mr Singh, Miss McLean and Miss Adeola are away…"

"Um, sir, I'm actually here," Tanya said, hand raised just above her shoulder. "Sorry. I'm not meant to be back, but…"

"Not to worry, Tanya. Is there anyone else not here I should know about?" They shook their heads and he marked off the register. "Alright. I'm Mr Jones, and I'm covering for Miss Quill at least until Christmas. She has, unfortunately, been taken ill, and I know she was a bit behind on what we need to cover for next summer's exams…" He turned a page and frowned. "So we'll get through as much as we can as fast as we can. I'm going to set some ground rules."

He stood up and walked up the aisle, picking up a phone and presenting it to its owner. "Phones away during lessons, unless I ask you to look something up. Don't want it joining the missing ones, do we? Now, I'm not a fan of the 'I'll respect you if you respect me' mentality, because I don't think it sets clear enough boundaries. If I'm talking, you don't. If I ask you to talk, you do. If you need to ask me something, I'll answer it to the best of my ability. If you need to leave the room, just go." He paused at Tanya's desk for that one and looked down at her. "We have a lot of ground to cover, and not enough time to do it. But other than that we should get on fine."

Charlie glanced at Matteusz, who raised his eyebrows and smiled at him. "Stop making eyes at each other, you two," Mr Jones told them. "You'll make the rest of us very jealous."

"But I've only got this lesson with him today," Charlie blurted.

There was laughter and he flushed red with embarrassment, but Mr Jones just smiled gently. "And love is very distracting, I know. But I don't get to see my husband until Saturday, so if I can cope, you can too." He turned back to the board with his hands on his hips. "A chalkboard, really? Anyway. Particles. Who can name a type of particle for me?"

Ninety minutes later they packed up their bags, brains full to bursting with more physics than they'd learned in months. Matteusz and Charlie packed up slowly, so they and Tanya were the last ones in the room. "He's quite good," Matteusz observed. "I feel like I learned something."

"He's quite cute, too," April's voice chimed in, disembodied. "Don't tell me you didn't notice."

"Matteusz noticed," Charlie agreed.

He opened his mouth to protest and then shrugged instead. "I have eyes."  
"Yeah, and an observant boyfriend," Tanya laughed. "Definite touch of the green eyed monster there, Charlie."

"Monster?" he asked.

Matteusz chuckled and caught his chin to kiss him. "It means you are jealous. You do not need to worry. He is far too old for me." He picked his bag up and smiled. "And you are very cute too."

"You all need to get going if you're not going to be late," April reminded them. "Charlie, I'm going to follow along in your shadow, if that's okay?"

"That's fine," he said. "Just… do keep warning me." He tipped his head up for another kiss from Matteusz and settled his bag onto both shoulders. "See you at lunch?"

"At lunch," he agreed. "Back here."

************  
They gathered in Miss Quill's classroom, where they wouldn't be disturbed and could talk freely without people thinking they were stranger than they already did. April found a dark corner where she could become visible enough for them to see her as she spoke, and Tanya slumped into a seat at the front. "It's so weird being back," she sighed, resting her chin on her hands. "People keep being nice to me. I didn't think they knew I existed, and now they're being so… nice."

"I know what you mean," April said. "If it's any consolation, they'll forget soon."

Charlie pulled out his sandwiches and didn't look up.

Matteusz was the last to arrive, chuckling to himself, and he greeted them both with a hug and told Charlie, "Maria thinks you are very cute. She says that all gay boys are."

"Does she? That's… who's Maria?"

Tanya raised her eyebrows. "Wait, you can speak Polish, Charlie?"

He laughed. "I don't speak English, do I? I use a translator."

"So… when he gets really cross and drops into Polish, you know what he's saying?" She looked up at him. "What if it's about Charlie?"

"That is how we found out," he admitted. "But it is okay. Easier, when I can't concentrate in English. He has that effect on me sometimes."

"Really?" She opened her mouth to say something at the same time as the door opened. "Oh, Mr Jones!"

He paused in the doorway and frowned. "What are you lot doing in here?"

"It's my form room," Charlie said quickly.

"And I needed some space," Tanya added. "You know. Bit… busy out there. We thought…"

He nodded. "Of course, I'm sorry. Be careful, though. With this raft of phone thefts going on, it's better if someone knows you're going to be alone in a classroom."

"Miss Quill is usually here. She doesn't mind."

"Alright." He looked down at his watch. "I have some marking to do, so I'll leave you to it. If you need me…"

"Actually," Matteusz said quickly, before he could leave. "You… you said you are married. You have a husband?"

"Yes. Jack, married seven years." Mr Jones looked between them. "Why? You need…"

Matteusz reached out for Charlie's hand and looked at him with a soft smile. "Charlie's parents are dead, and mine kicked me out. If you don't mind… not now, but sometime, we could use a role model."

"Of course. My door is always open. And I'm going to be Charlie's form tutor from tomorrow, so anytime you need me, just ask." He gave them a reassuring smile and, as he'd said, left them to it.

Charlie squeezed Matteusz's fingers and looked up at him, searching his face. "Are you okay? Do you need someone?"

"No, I am fine." He glanced at the door. "But there is something strange about him, don't you think?"

"Matteusz is right," April said, barely materialised and sitting on the desk. "And the way he keeps looking at you when you're working, Charlie. I don't like it."

He nodded and looked back to Matteusz. "Then we'll go and talk to him. Might get some things off our chests in the process. But you can talk to me, if you need to."

The door flew open again and Ram strode in. "I'm not back at school," he said, holding his hands out before they could say anything. "And I don't want to talk about It." The capital letter was audible. "But there's something weird going on here."

April sighed and took solid enough form to close the door. "Just like the Muppets. Getting the gang back together takes a major crisis."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Bunghole Defence Squad find out a bit more about their new teacher, and he finds out a lot about them.

"What are we even doing here?" Ram asked, again, like it hadn't been his idea. "Why is it always us?"

"Because no one else will, and someone has to. The Doctor…"

"Oh, fuck the Doctor," he snapped, ashamed of how pleased he was at the way Charlie recoiled. "If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't be in this mess. I'd still have a dad and both my legs, and Tanya wouldn't be an orphan. Sorry if I don't feel I owe him that much. I'm only here because… Because someone has to be."

April grabbed his arm, tight enough that it hurt. "Ram," she snarled. "Quit it." Charlie wasn't looking at any of them, even when Matteusz rested a hand on his shoulder. "Yes, we're all grieving something or someone. You don't get to make someone else feel worse to make yourself feel better, okay?"

"You're right." He shrugged her off and stared at the ground. "I'm sorry, Charlie. It's not your fault."

He shrugged. "It's alright. We all know it is."

"It isn't." April sighed, breath fogging in a huge cloud around her. "Look, are we going to go and look for this thing, or what?" She stamped her feet to try and warm them up. "What are we even looking for?"

"Something about our size, but with big teeth. Round by the bins, behind the dining room." Ram nodded in that direction so he didn't have to take his hands out of his pockets. "That way."

They trailed after him, keeping to the shadows as much as they could. The gate to the bins should have been locked, but it never was. Too many crafty smokers, and Ram thought that the school would rather have them tucked out of sight but on school grounds than out in the big wide world. Not that the school was safe. He pushed it open wider and it squeaked loudly, cutting through the night. Inside it was quiet and peaceful, without a hint of movement, and he sighed. "Maybe it's gone?" he suggested.

April pushed past him and pulled a torch out of her pocket. She flashed it across the bins and into the gaps between them, then darted it back to the first. "Is that…" Something moved and she took a step back. "Oh god, was that a rat?"

"I would like it to be a rat," Matteusz commented. "Rats at least belong here."

She grimaced but crept forwards, and they followed her. The rat, they hoped, was making a lot of noise behind the bin, eating something… It moved again and April yelped.

It was definitely not a rat.

The creature - alien - emerged from behind the bins, keeping one arm in front of its face against the light from the torch. Its other hand was full of food scraps from the bin, but it bared its teeth and continued to advance on them. Ram tried to notice details about it - brown, leathery skin, some sort of armour, very long fingers - but mostly he was aware of a lot of long, vicious teeth bared in a snarl at them. They backed up more and, reaching back, he got his hand on the gate. "I think… I think we should shut it in," he suggested. "Or run."

"Good thinking," Charlie agreed. Ram glanced down and, yep, Charlie's knuckles were white clinging so tightly to Matteusz's hand it must have hurt. "You're closest," he pointed out. "If you get out…"

All of a sudden the lights above them flashed on, blindingly bright after the darkness, and Ram swore as April vanished again. He blinked hard to try and clear it, and grabbed Charlie's shoulder to pull him backwards towards the gate. Someone pushed past him, though, and he lost his footing. There was a scuffle, and then the newcomer was pushing them all out of the yard. He slammed the gate shut and fumbled in his bag. "Stay there," he ordered. "Christ, I didn't sigh up for this."

There was the smell of food, and then their rescuer chucked something through the fence. It distracted the alien, and bought them time to breathe and get used to the light levels again. "What the hell were you doing in there?" the newcomer asked. "You could have been killed."

"Mr Jones?" Charlie asked. "What are you doing here?"

"That's what I just asked." He looked back over his shoulder at the yard and reached into his bag. "Look at it, all of you."

They crept closer to the gate again, and Ram got a better look. The alien was tearing into a whole roast chicken, eating the skin, bones, everything. It looked up at them and snarled again, but a well-aimed banana distracted it. "What is that thing?"

"It's an alien." Mr Jones told them, and Ram rolled his eyes. "It's from another planet, found its way here through a rift in time and space. That's what I do. I'm here because your school sits on that rift, and all the wonders and dangers of the universe are coming your way. Look into its eyes. You can see, can't you? Those are the eyes of a creature that doesn't know your world."

Ram snorted. "Yeah, and? So's Charlie. We see that look every time he goes online." He looked Mr Jones up and down. "Who are you, anyway? Are you UNIT?"

"He is your physics teacher," Matteusz said quietly. He stepped in front of Charlie and looked at the alien again. "What is it called?"

"It's a Hoix." Mr Jones sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Not very bright. A bit like you, Mr Singh."

Charlie glared at Ram and stepped forwards. "What are you going to do with it?"

"What did I do?"

Matteusz was glaring at him too, and keeping himself between them and Charlie. "Do we need to catch it?"

Mr Jones pulled out an aerosol can. "You just told an alien hunter that your friend is an alien. Not very bright at all." He strode forwards, straight past Charlie. "Fortunately for Mr Smith, as long as he does his homework and doesn't cause me more paperwork than the Department of Education requires of me, I don't really care." He grabbed the gate and looked back over his shoulder. "One alien arrest in a night is enough."

He was like a ninja when he went to grab the alien. It really was pretty stupid, like Ram now felt, and was distracted by a Mars Bar. Then it only took Mr Jones a couple of minutes to get the spray in its face, restrain it, and get a hood over its head. "It'll eat through that before long," he said, brushing his suit down as he came back to join them. "I'll call UNIT to pick it up before morning, though."

"So… you're not UNIT?" Charlie asked, still half-hidden behind Matteusz.

"No." He locked the gate and pulled out his phone. "And you aren't registered with them?"

"Should I be?"

"Probably. How did you get here?" He tilted his head. "Not through the Rift?"

Charlie shook his head. "I was rescued and brought here, by a man called the Doctor. He…"

"For fuck's sake." Mr Jones huffed. "I'm actually going to kill him this time."


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to pretend that I didn't forget that April is in Corakinus's body when I first posted the previous chapter.

Charlie hesitated on the doorstep, but Mr Jones gave him another of those looks he was already learning to dread and he unlocked the door quickly. The house was in darkness, but he always knew when Quill was around. It was like something crawling up his spine and settling in his chest. "We're home," he called out, reaching for the lights. "And… not alone."  
  
"Charles, you're getting worryingly sociable." She rounded the corner and eyed their newcomer. "Oh. You can bring me gifts like this more often. Come on in, then."  
  
"Miss Quill," Mr Jones said. "Your reputation precedes you." He stepped past Charlie and offered her his hand. "Ianto Jones, Torchwood. And your maternity cover."  
  
She looked him up and down again and shook his hand. "I thought Torchwood was an urban legend. Or at least shut down years ago."  
  
"Yes, well, I'm very good at my job." He glanced at Ram. "And pretty good at keeping secrets, unlike some."  
  
"And yet here you are. Coffee?" Quill ignored the rest of them, which was the way Charlie liked it, and led Mr Jones into the kitchen. "Where did you find them, anyway? Back at the school, I imagine."  
He chuckled and took a seat at the table with her. "Yes. Looking for a Hoix. Big, dumb, hungry. I don't think it would have hurt them, but I'm not sure what they planned to do with it either."  
  
"Oh, probably shout at it and hope it went away." Quill gestured at Charlie. "Coffee, Charles. Let's not leave Mr Jones here thinking we're bad hosts. I'll have some of the whiskey in mine."  
  
"You're pregnant," he reminded her. "You're not even supposed to drink coffee." Matteusz squeezed his hand and he nodded. "We've got those syrups, though. Mr Jones?"  
  
He raised an eyebrow and shook his head. "Thank you, but I actually like coffee."  
  
"Black like your soul," Quill observed. "I like it. So, Mr Jones, what is Torchwood these days?"  
  
"Torchwood is a… small scale organisation, shall we say? Nothing like UNIT. Nothing like it used to be, either. We find the vulnerable places, and we defend them." He ran a hand through his hair. "Coal Hill School - academy, sorry - sits on a rift in time and space, where the walls of the universe are weakest…"  
  
"Yes, we know. Get on with it."  
  
Mr Jones chuckled. "Ah, the Doctor? Yes, I'm going to have words with him, don't worry. Regeneration. We'd just got him housetrained and he went and changed on us. Which one did you get?"  
  
Charlie brought the coffees over. "What do you mean, which one?"  
  
"Which face?"  
  
"Oh… grey hair. I don't know, humans all looked the same at the time."  
  
Mr Jones nodded. "Yes, that explains things. He's a bit of a loose canon. I'll have a word."  
"You said you were going to kill him," Charlie reminded him.  
  
"I say that a lot, believe me. He has a habit of leaving people in the lurch on planets they know nothing about." He gestured around the room. "You seem to be doing alright."  
  
Quill shrugged one shoulder. "He gave us enough money to get by for a very long time. Sorted the house, my job, Charlie's school place. And then left us to defend this… rift. Oh yes, we know it well. He left children to protect the world, and then he'll probably wonder why people died." She glowered over her mug. "Now Ram's got an alien leg and no dad, Tanya has no mum, April here is a Shadowkin…"  
  
"April?"  
  
"Hi." She stepped out of the shadows and loomed over him, and for the first time Mr Jones looked alarmed. "It's a long, long story."  
  
He pushed his mug towards Charlie. "I've changed my mind about that whiskey."  
  
"You were telling us about Torchwood," Matteusz said. "About this rift. We call it a bunghole."  
  
That earned him a bark of laughter, and Mr Jones ran his hand through his hair again. "Do you now? I'm not sure I could put that in the reports. But yes, we find places where alien threats are most likely and we move in. Contain the risk and then deal with it, one day at a time, for as long as it takes. And that's what we'll do here."  
  
"I like the sound of this," Quill murmured. "Is this the bit where we can get out of this dump?"  
  
"I'm not going anywhere." Charlie glanced over at Matteusz. "Not without you."  
  
"Oh, yeah, you might not want to broadcast that quite as likely as you do when faced with an alien threat," Mr Jones commented. "If the Hoix had had a couple of braincells, it would have found it very easy to manipulate you."  
  
"Yes. We have been there too." Matteusz squeezed Charlie's hand and looked up at Mr Jones. "You said you're married, though."  
  
He nodded. "Jack would never forgive himself, but he'd never put me before the world. I hope you never have to make that choice."  
  
"You're a bit late for that," Charlie looked down. "I'd like not to have to do it again, though."  
  
"I'll do my best. And, you, April." Mr Jones turned to look at her again. "What are we going to do with you? Let me make a phone call or two. And shout at the Doctor again."


	4. Chapter 4

"Where's Mr Jones going?" Tanya asked. 

They looked up at her and then out of the window. The rain was hammering down again, like it would never stop, and no one was outside if they didn't have to be. A lone figure hurried through it, dodging past deep puddles with shoulders hunched against the cold. Charlie peered closer and wiped condensation from the glass. "Is that who it is?"

"Looks like he's heading for the old changing rooms," Ram said. "They've not been used in years, though. Not since the new buildings went up. What does he want over there?"

"Maybe he is hunting for aliens," Matteusz suggested. "If I was an alien, I would choose somewhere nobody goes."

Charlie shrugged. "I wouldn't. It must be cold, and probably damp. And probably no WiFi."

"Probably. Did your planet have WiFi?"

"Something like it," he confirmed, with only half his attention on her and the rest of it on movement out by the old brick buildings. "Much more advanced by the time..." He swallowed and changed the subject. "Can you see a van over there?"

"I don't know." Tanya wiped at the glass too and pressed her forehead against it. "Yeah, I can. And is that a light on inside?"

He nodded. "Why would it have electricity, though?"

Ram gave him his favourite dismissive look. "Oh my god, we had electricity 20 years ago. Just because we're not as advanced as you…"

"I'm not stupid, Ram. I just don't see why you'd leave it connected if you weren't using it. Especially if they were going to knock it down or something."

"They probably meant to convert it," Tanya explained. "They've been promising new science labs since before the new building was finished, after all."

"Is good idea. Then we can explode things," Matteusz murmured. "For science, I mean."

They all stared at him and then shrugged at each other. "I don't think that's what they're doing now," Tanya said at last, turning back to the window. "I think..."

They waited until Ram growled. "Oh come on, Hermione. Enough with the drama."

"Sorry. I was just trying to work it out, but didn't you say that Mr Jones said..." She glanced around them and leaned closer, then finished in a loud whisper, "Said that Torchwood are going to set up a base here. To protect us."

"I think he did," Charlie confirmed. "I was a bit worried about that, to be honest. I mean, what if they decide they don't want to allow any aliens?"

"They already did. They had a referendum about it." Matteusz squeezed his hand. "Mr Jones says that as long as you do your homework, you can stay."

He laughed and nodded. "You're right, as usual." Charlie's face softened as he looked at Matteusz the way it always did. "If I have to pretend to be human..."

"You've got no hope, mate. You're the least believable human I've met," Ram scoffed. 

Charlie ignored him. "But we should probably keep them on side."

"Yeah. Maybe we should go round later," Tanya suggested. "Introduce ourselves and stuff. Actually... You know the thing with the phones?"

"You mean that dozens have been nicked over the last few months? Yeah, I'd noticed." Ram eyed her. "Wait… you're not about to suggest that it might be aliens."

She bristled at him. "It could be. I mean, it does seem a bit weird."

"It does," Matteusz agreed. "Unless someone can steal a phone in the library and then take one out of someone's bag in C block five minutes later."

Tanya thought it through. "You could do it, at a run. But you couldn't do it without getting caught."

"No." They looked at each other and then out of the window as they all came to the same conclusion.

****************************************

Rain ran down the back of Ram's neck and soaked his hair to his head. He glared at Tanya, because she'd been the first one to say what they were all thinking and it was therefore Her Idea, and raised his hand. "Last chance to back out." No one said anything, so he knocked on the door and stepped back into the group.

For a long while all that happened was that the rain, somehow, got heavier. They'd got to the stage of looking at each other awkwardly and wondering if they'd imagined it all by the time the door finally opened, and a tall, dark haired man leaned on the doorframe to look them up and down. "Sign says no minors," he pointed out, indicating the yellow hazard notice on the door. "Sorry."

Tanya folded her arms. "We're looking for Mr Jones. Is he still here?"

The stranger straightened up, with an expression that was 10% stern and 90% trying very hard not to laugh. "Mr Jones," he called back over his shoulder. "I think some of your students are here." There was a muffled response and he opened the door wider. "You'd better come in."

They exchanged glances and then followed him in, through the foyer and past the changing rooms - girls on the left and boys on the right - and into the office at the back. Everything was coated in dust and the air was heavy with it and the smell of fresh paint and plaster. The office was sparse, with four desks and a laptop on each, six rickety plastic chairs, and a coffee machine, kettle and herd of mugs on a pasting table against the wall. Mr Jones was leaning over the shoulder of a younger man, looking at something on the screen. "Be with you in a minute," he assured them. "Luke, send me that report, will you? I'll have a look at it whilst my first years are doing their test."

Ram glanced at Tanya again and shrugged. The guy who'd shown them in picked a mug up off one of the desk and leaned against it. "You must be our alien hunters. And alien, of course." His eyes settled on Charlie and creased at the corners when Matteusz, predictably, stepped in front of him. "Ianto was right."

"Ianto's always right," Mr Jones said, finally straightening up. "What was I right about this time?"

"Your boys are sweet." He smirked into his mug. "Do they remind you of us?"

He snorted. "Kids, this is my husband, Jack. Who I had to stalk to even get a job," he added, "so no, no fond memories here." 

Tanya looked up at Ram. "So… this is Torchwood? Doesn't look like much."

"Neither do you. We're… getting established." Jack gestured around the room. "I mean, we only have one room at the moment, but I've worked with less. This is Luke Smith, our tech expert, his partner Ant is our medic, Ianto Jones is our top undercover operative…"

"I'm the archivist and the only one who could be spared," Mr Jones corrected him.

"He's also pretty good at going undercover. And I'm Captain Jack Harkness." He grinned. "I'm here to give them someone to make look good."

Tanya nodded. "So… Ant is your only girl."  
"Nope." Luke grinned at her. "We're just that gay. We have a team of 24 back at the base, to be fair. It's just that if we four come, we only need two hotel rooms and Ianto is very cost conscious."

"Someone has to be." He rolled his eyes, but smiled anyway. "So you have backup now. We'll take it from here. There might be more of you, but we're better trained."

Ram scowled. "What, just like that? Don't you think you're a bit late?" He pointed back at the school. "Do you know how many people have died there before you turned up? We've been bleeding and dying - literally! And now you're just going to swoop in and tell us it's all fine now, you've got it covered, and expect us to accept it. But we know. We know what's out there. You lot in some junk office isn't going to make me sleep at night."

"Mr Singh…"

"Don't 'Mr Singh' me." He glared up at him. "What can you do to keep us safe, really? Or are you just going to mop up the damage afterwards? Because if you can’t promise me you can keep my mum safe, I'm going to keep doing it myself."  
Jack stepped forwards and pushed him back. "You know what's going to keep you safe? Keeping your nose out of other people's business. Stop sneaking around school after dark, stop drawing attention to yourselves, and stop putting yourselves in the line of fire. Leave it to the professionals, and we will handle it."

Tanya caught his arm to hold him back. "We will, don't worry. But just so you know, the thing with everyone's phones going missing? It's definitely aliens."

"Yeah, figured that, thanks." Jack reached for the door. "We want to help. Ianto has some paperwork for Charlie to complete to get him some support, and we're going to arrange for all of you to have access to therapists who'll actually believe you. We're not the bad guys. Keep your heads down, do your homework, and don't bring your phone to school, alright?"

Dismissed, they trailed out into the rain. It was still hammering down, and Tanya felt even colder when she saw Charlie wrap his arms around Matteusz's waist under his jacket. "Mr Jones was right," she murmured, "you two really do make an obvious target."

Charlie had buried his face against Mattuesz's shoulder, so his voice was muffled. "The world can… go fuck itself next time," he grumbled. Matteusz rubbed a hand down his back and he pulled back with a visible sigh. "I'm all for leaving it to Torchwood, I really am. Maybe… maybe we can be normal. Normal for us, I mean."

"I'd like that."

"Yeah, me too," Tanya agreed. "If I never see another alien, I won't mind. And god, I think we all need that therapy. Can you imagine being able to tell someone what's actually happened to us?"

Ram draped his arm over her shoulders and steered her towards the school. "Yeah, you're right. Maybe this is what we needed."


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this updating weekly thing didn't go right well, did it? I accidentally got Netflix and then the sun came out, and I've generally been a bit distracted. Sorry.

Charlie stroked his finger up Mattuesz's arm to his shoulder, entranced by the warmth and softness and the strength he knew it concealed. In the darkness of morning, when the house was silent and the world outside seemed a million miles away, he luxuriated in his other senses. Smell and touch, so much more sensitive than he was used to, enveloped him. Since Matteusz, bed had become more than a place to sleep and avoid himself. The warmth of another body pressed against his own, the smell of cheap deodorant and expensive shampoo, the soft rumble of snores, and a million nicer things to think about than his empty past. He'd tried to count once and thought he might be exploding with happiness by the time he got to twenty.

His chest ached perfectly when Matteusz murmured and reached out for him, some clumsy gesture that couldn't decide whether it was batting him away or pulling him closer. He snuggled up and rested his head on Matteusz's arm, as carefully as he could, content to watch his chest rise and fall and more than content to come closer and rest his head on it when Matteusz pulled him in. "I love you," he whispered. "I want you."

Mattuesz held him tighter and rubbed at his eyes with his free hand. "I love you too," he slurred. "Time 's it?"

"Early." Charlie lifted his head to check. "Half an hour."

"You are terrible. Insatiable." He trailed his fingers down Charlie's back, though, and was definitely not complaining. "What should we do?"

He propped himself on one hand and looked down at him. "Each other I should think." Matteusz grinned up at him and he reached out to stroke his cheek. "I mean it. I love you. You gave me hope, when I thought I might never hope again. Waking up… I never used to look forwards to it. But waking up next to you… it's like a promise."

"A promise of what?"

"Happiness." He brushed Matteusz's hair back. "A lifetime of it."

There was one of those perfect moments when everything made perfect sense, and then Matteusz surged up and pulled Charlie down to meet him. Charlie melted into his arms, tangling his fingers in Matteusz's hair and sighing against his lips. He entwined their legs, stroked his hand down Matteusz's face and neck, laughed into the kiss. Half an hour was never enough, but a lifetime might just be. 

"Charlie…" Matteusz pushed him back a bit and looked up at him. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" He lifted his head and listened carefully. At first there was nothing, but then he heard a footstep downstairs. "Kitchen," he whispered. "That was on tile. And not Quill."

"No." Matteusz sat up and rested his hands on Charlie's hips. "Tanya?"

He smiled at him. "Oh, I wish. We need clothes. And weapons."

They scrambled into the first clothes that came to hand and crept downstairs. Quill was snoring in her bedroom, and the gun was with her, so Charlie picked up a vase and Matteusz found a hammer from when they'd put the new bookcase together. They paused at the bottom of the stairs and Charlie pushed Matteusz back a step. "Let me," he mouthed, hefting his vase.

Matteusz glared at him and handed him the hammer, but then let him go ahead. He snuck forwards, back to the wall, and peered around the doorjamb into the kitchen. There was a man there, rooting through the cupboards and muttering to himself. He opened the tea caddy and sniffed it, and then dropped a bag into a mug. "Oh, help yourself," Charlie called out. "Make yourself at home."

The man turned and spotted him immediately. To Charlie's consternation, he beamed and pointed at him. "You must be Charlie!" He hurried towards the doorway. "Ianto sent me. Said you needed a doctor."

He backed away behind the wall. "Ianto Jones, of Torchwood? He said he was going to call The Doctor, not a doctor."

"And he did. I am the Doctor. But we haven't met, have we?" He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Timelines."

"He said… About faces. That I met a different version of you." Charlie turned and looked up at Matteusz. "If Ianto sent you… what did he send you for?"

The visitor twisted his hands together, but stopped in the middle of the kitchen like he'd picked up on Charlie's fear. "He said that one of your friends is stuck in the wrong body. You were attacked by the Shadowkin, and now she's trapped in the body of a Shadowkin. He wasn't clear on why, but I don't think you are either." He smiled as Charlie stepped out into view. "I think I can help your friend. But I think you should start from the beginning. Tell me what happened."

"I… think I need tea for this."

****************************************************************

Mattuesz held his hand in his lap and pressed their knees together under the table whilst Charlie talked. It didn't come out in chronological order so much as easiest to hardest. 'You saved me and brought me to Earth' came at the start. 'You left us to fight the Shadowkin on our own and people died' was somewhere in the middle. And at the end came what he did to stop them. That one took a long time, and his hands were shaking even if his voice was level. He closed his eyes part way through and twined his fingers through Matteusz's, holding on for his life. 

"I'm so sorry, Charlie," the Doctor said quietly. "I do that. I know I shouldn't, but I always do. I just leave people. Ianto gave me a right earful about it."

He looked up. "You're not angry?"

The Doctor sighed. "Angry? Charlie, you saved the planet. What choice did you have? What choice did I give you?"

"Can you change it?" Matteusz asked. "You said you have not done this yet. Can you just… could you go, now, and save Rhodia?"

He ran a hand through his hair. "No. I'm part of events, have been since before I knew. Time isn't logical. It doesn't happen in order, especially to me. If I went back now, who would tell me I needed to? If the Shadowkin didn't come here, neither would Ianto, and so neither would I."

Charlie nodded and wiped at his eyes. "I thought so. But you said you could help April. I have a genetic splicer. Can you give her one?"

"No. Well, I could, but I'd have to top it with a perception filter to make her look like her and it probably wouldn't hold. She'd always be pretending to be someone she wasn't." He eyed Charlie and then turned away. "But I know some people owe me some favours. All I need is a DNA sample and a mind imprinter. And, of course, April."

"We will call her." Matteusz squeezed Charlie's hand. "Charlie…"

He nodded again. "Yes. And we need to get ready for school, too." He straightened up and released his tight grip on Matteusz's hand. "Mr Jones might understand, but I don't think Miss Shah will. I'll go and… call April and get dressed."

Matteusz watched him go and the Doctor watched Matteusz. They sat in the kitchen in silence until Matteusz was ready. "I hated you," he admitted. "You saved us, but you saved us from you."

"Yes. I've heard that." 

"From Mr Jones?" He looked up. "How do you know him?"

He sighed. "I left his husband to fend for himself on a space station. Alone. And I'm very bad at turning up, really. Came to their wedding twice, in the end, just to be sure. And I leave a mess behind for him to clean up way too often, apparently. I'm a friend of his husband's, actually. I should just have said that, shouldn't I?"

"I'm not sure I like you," Matteusz admitted. "But I like you better than the other you."

"Well. That's something." He smiled. "You should go and get ready for school. It's important, is school. You learn so much there. Maths and English and love and knitting. Maybe not knitting."

Footsteps sounded on the stairs, slow and heavy. Charlie had a phone in each hand, and held Matteusz's out to him. "April is on her way, and Quill will be down soon."

"Thank you." Matteusz pulled him close and kissed him quickly, resting their foreheads together. "I will be quick."

"I'll put the toast on." He released him slowly though. "Marmalade?"

"Thank you." He gave the Doctor one last look and hurried into the bathroom.

Charlie straightened his shoulders and turned around. "What about you, Doctor? Can I get you breakfast?"

"Oh, no thank you. Fussy eater." He dropped his gaze and picked up the book discarded in the middle of the table. "Frankenstein. Good book. Now, there was a firecracker, Mary Shelley. She didn't take any nonsense from her boys…"

"It's Matteusz's. He's doing English Literature, and it was assigned." He turned around quickly. "Not that he wouldn't have read it anyway, I mean. Just…"

The Doctor nodded. "It's a challenging read. Not the sort of thing you want to have on the bedside table. It's interesting to compare it with the King of Hesta… only that hasn't been written yet so don't do that." He chuckled. "Timelines."

Charlie opened his mouth, but he was cut off by footsteps on the stairs. His shoulders tensed and he turned back to fill the kettle and prepare coffee with perfectly steady hands. He stared down into the mug, even when Quill stopped in the doorway and then dragged a chair out loudly. "So. You're the other Doctor. Come to whisk April away on an adventure?"

"Oh, no. Well, only around London. The Rift makes it hard to aim. To be honest, I only got here this morning by accident. I was aiming for Paris in 1892, but ended up here and picked up Ianto's message so I thought, well, might as well." He dropped the book onto the table and leaned back into his chair. "She's a Type 40 TARDIS, you see. Mind of her own, gets me to where I need to be, but sometimes, you know, I aim for Florence and get Cardiff, aim for 1892 and get 2016. So I'm under strict instructions, I'm not to take any of you into the TARDIS for even a minute. And between you and me, I'd rather face the Daleks than annoy Ianto again."

Charlie turned and brought Quill's coffee to the table. "Should I be worried? He's my new form tutor."

The Doctor laughed. "Oh no. Well, probably not. Don't threaten Jack or Earth and you'll be fine. Probably."

"That isn't reassuring." A shadow passed across the room and Charlie's knuckles went white around the mug. "April?"

"I'm here," she said, and she materialised in the darkest corner of the room. "Doctor, is Charlie right? Can you get me back?"

He bounced to his feet and scanned her with his screwdriver. "Oh, now that's interesting. Totally Shadowkin… but also not." He looked back at the screwdriver and raised his eyebrows. "Well. That's…" He peered at April again. "Right."

"I don't like the sound of that." April's voice came from Corakinus's mouth, and Charlie still hadn't decided if she was scarier as herself or as the stuff of his nightmares. "Doctor, what's going on?"

"Oh! Nothing to worry about. Just a complete mind imprint relying on telepathy…" He checked the screwdriver again. "Honestly, you could probably project the appearance you wanted onto anyone around you, but it would take years to learn so we're just going to pop down to see some friends of mine. They'll help us create a cloned body and then we'll reverse the psychic imprint onto it. Home in time for tea. You might find your tastes have changed, though. New tastebuds, essentially."

They looked at each other - or Charlie at least tried to look at April - and she nodded. "Alright. I think I'll need one of those filter things, though. I stand out a bit."

"Right, yes." He clapped his hands and spun on his heel. "You two go to school, do knitting and things, April and I will go and sort her out a body. See you back here for chips."

****************************************************************  
"Are you okay?" Matteusz caught Charlie's hand when they turned the last corner to school and squeezed it. "Because you do not have to be okay."

He licked his lips and stared at Matteusz's feet. "I am. I mean… I'm trying to be."

"You do not have to be," Matteusz repeated.

"I should be." His fingers shook in Mattuesz's hand, no matter how hard he tried to stop them. "This is more than I should ever have been allowed."  
�"Allowed?"

He nodded. "April… that should have been me, not Corakinus." The words hung in the air between them for seconds that seemed to gape like years, but then Matteusz's arms were vice-tight around him and Charlie clung on just as tight, now shaking from head to toe. "I wish it had been."

Matteusz shook his head. "No. No, do not say that." He pulled back and cupped Charlie's face in both hands. "You do not have to be okay now, but you will be okay. We will make this better."

"I know." He buried his face in Matteusz's shoulder. "But right now… No, I'm not… I'm not okay."

He shushed him gently and tangled his fingers in Charlie's hair, holding his head in place tucked safe and sound against him. "No, you are not. But you will be."

"As long as I have you…" Charlie lifted his head and smiled, despite the tears clinging to his lashes. "As long as you're here, I know I can be again. One day. I just don't want you to waste your time waiting for that."

Matteusz shook his head. "My time is not wasted if I spend it with you. In General Studies, though…" He leaned in and kissed Charlie's forehead when he spluttered a laugh. "Do you want to go home?"

"No. I can do this. If I turned back every time I had a rough day, I would never leave the house." He slid his hand down to take Matteusz's again. "I don't know what I would do without you. You were the first thing that made surviving bearable."

His heart broke again, but the ringing of the school bell, audible even from so far away, caught his attention. "Charlie…"

"Later," he agreed. "Don't want to piss Mr Jones off, do we?" He hitched his bag higher onto his shoulder and set off at a jog without letting go of Matteusz's hand.


	6. Chapter 6

"I don't understand why we're doing this again," Ram groaned, even as he trailed after April towards the school. "It wasn't even my idea this time, and we have Torchwood now! It's not our job. They get paid for it, they're the experts, and they told us to stay away."

She beamed up at him, human eyes bright in her human face and a human laugh coming from her human mouth. Ram tugged her close and kissed her until she was clinging to him, but it didn't deter her. She just tugged on his hand once she'd got her breath back and set off towards the school again, with the rest of them in her wake. "I just want to see for myself," she insisted. "I can have my life back."

"Yeah, and we suggested going to Pizza Hut and bowling," Tanya pointed out. "Not skulking around school again. Please can we do Pizza Hut soon?"

"What's…" Charlie sighed and shook his head. "Never mind. April, what are you expecting to find?"

"Nothing." She grinned back at him. "That's half the fun." The keys jingled in her hand like bells. "Admit it. It's fun having access to the school when we shouldn't be here."

Matteusz huffed, reaching for Charlie's hand. "I do not think I understand this word fun. It does not mean what I thought it meant."

As soon as they caught each others' eyes, they started giggling and couldn't stop. April pressed her fist against her mouth to smother it, peering around the wall at the distant light of the Torchwood office. "They're in there," she whispered, a little too loud. "Quick, to the…"�  
"Batmobile?"

She punched Tanya on the shoulder. "Staff entrance," she hissed. "Other side."

They kept to the shadows as well as they could, and peered around anxiously as April fumbled with the keys Mr Armitage had left her with, when he was distracted by their disaster of a prom. The door opened into the staff room, and they crept through it using the light from their phones. Charlie stuck close to Matteusz, clinging to his hand, but Ram, April and Tanya spread out through the room, poking at piles of books and papers left at the end of the day.

"Hey," Ram said. "I totally flunked my Chemistry test today. Reckon Mr Bride will have left it here so I can mark it for him?"

"How do you flunk that test?" Tanya asked, flashing her phone light over the dining room supervisory rota on the wall. "It was like, the easiest thing ever."

He scoffed and came over to join her. "Been a bit distracted lately."

"Me too," she pointed out. "You’re not the only one who lost a parent."  
�"I'm the only one who didn't," April murmured. "Just got one back that I didn’t want." She sighed. "Not fair, is it?"

They let an awkward silence fall as they continued to explore the staff room, but the flash of a car headlight across the window dragged them out of it. "We should get out of here," Tanya said. "We shouldn't be here."�  
"You're right." April reached out and grabbed her hand. "Let's go to the library."

"That's not what I meant!" Tanya groaned, but ran after her anyway.

They raced each other up the stairs to the library, and stood gasping in the doorway, laughing and falling against each other. Charlie watched them, fingers tangled in the hem of his jumper until Matteusz took his hand and pulled him back into the circle to lean against him. Tanya had her hands clamped over her mouth and was staring around them. "This is just like being in Harry Potter. Only the books aren't going to try to kill us. Actually, they're pretty boring."

"You've got no sense of adventure." April checked her phone and took a step away from them. "What if we try and catch whatever's taking phones? We could all put our phones down, and watch and see if it comes for them?"

Matteusz and Charlie met each other's eyes and sighed. "April, I don't think…"

"Just half an hour," she promised, eyes shining in the light from her phone. "I promise. And then we can go home."

"Alright." Ram sighed and pulled her in for a kiss. "All in here, yeah?"

She nodded and tucked her hair back behind her ear again, face lighting up even further as she realised she could do that. "Back here at half past. And then home. Maybe via ice cream?"

They separated with whispered reassurances, but Matteusz held onto Charlie's hand as they made their way towards junior fiction. "We could sit together. It will be okay."

"I'm fine," Charlie reassured him. "Just… not used to April being the wild one. She's just got her freedom back. Let's give her this night."

Matteusz leaned down and kissed him gently. "I love you. Soon we will be in bed, just the two of us."

He grinned, touching his fingers to his lips. "I can't wait."

*************************

Time dragged on in the darkness, oppressive silence descending on them like a blanket. April sighed and picked up her phone again. "I've not seen anything," she sent. "It's just quiet. Charlie, shall we call it a day?"

She got no response for a while, and then, just as she was starting to get nervous, the 'someone is typing' message popped up.

Matteusz: Charlie?

Her heart leapt into her throat. "Guys, meet me by the desk now."

They all agreed. All apart from Charlie.

She dragged herself to her feet and raced off down the stacks, breath catching in familiar lungs again. Someone else was close, and she slowed up at the junction, just enough to avoid colliding with Ram. He didn't say anything, just reached for her hand and tugged. They skidded into the entrance to the library, where Tanya was already standing with her phone pressed to her ear, and Matteusz clattered in to join them soon after.

"He's not answering," Tanya said, stabbing at her phone with jerky movements. "It's just going straight to voicemail."

"Oh... Shit." April closed her eyes and sighed. "Come on, Charlie, where are you?"

Matteusz was pacing backwards and forwards between the chairs, running his hands through his hair and muttering in Polish. From the looks Ram kept giving him, it wasn't polite Polish. She and Tanya glanced at each other and she reached out to catch Matteusz's arm. "Look, his phone has probably disappeared."

He stared at her like he was having to switch from Polish back into English, and then nodded. "Yes, you are right. He probably put his phone down and... It vanished."

"Where was he?"

They all looked at each other and shrugged. "Oh crap." She looked around for a clue that wasn't there. "Well, we were in science..."

"I went to languages," Matteusz said. "He... Came with me as far as junior fiction."

"So he's in here, somewhere." Ram nodded. "Alright, let's split up..."

"Don't be stupid, Ram," Tanya snapped. "Charlie is missing. And fine, maybe his phone has just gone, but maybe it hasn't. He'd be able to hear us! Have you never watched a horror movie?"

"Tanya," April hissed as Matteusz went very pale. "A little tact wouldn't hurt."

"We don't have time for tact!"

"There's always time for tact." She turned to Matteusz and squeezed his arm. "We'll find him. He's probably fallen asleep. He's still having nightmares, yeah? He's just fallen asleep somewhere in the library. You and Tanya take the left side, we'll take the right. We'll find him in no time. It's going to be fine."

An hour later, when Mr Jones found them racing down one of the science corridors, they started to accept that it really wasn't fine at all.


	7. Chapter 7

"Oh fuck the fuck off." Ianto buried his face in the pillows, trying to drown out the chirpy pop song Jack had chosen for his ringtone this week. "It's the middle of the night."

Jack ran a hand through his hair and dropped it onto his shoulder, squeezing gently. "Ant, what have you got? This had better be..." He paused to let Ant speak and sighed. "Alright, we're on our way. Don't go in there without us. We'll be half an hour, tops."

"Forty five minutes," Ianto growled into the pillow. "What is it this time?"

"Rift flare at the school, and they're picking up activity on the sensors. Could be nothing, but with the Doctor around last night..." He sighed. "We'd better check it out."

He sighed and lifted his head at last to look up at Jack, a smile teasing at his lips despite his best efforts. A dull buzz of excitement settled in his gut, even after more middle of the night alerts than he cared to count, even after fifteen years. The thrill of the chase, the excitement of the unknown, the passion of fear, they thrilled through his veins and kept him going like they always had. Under his hand, Jack's muscles were tense with it, and when their eyes finally met they sparked with the same fire that Ianto felt. "It's not even eleven, and we won't be long," Jack assured him. "We'll be back in bed by one."

"There's no way we'll sleep. Too much adrenaline."

Jack smirked back at him. "I'm counting on it."

They dressed quickly and walked back to the school, fifteen minutes around the corner. Jack's forecast was the more accurate, and they met Ant outside the office they'd created out of the old changing rooms as the clocks were striking quarter past. Ant was tapping away at his tablet, and gave them a brief, suspicious glance. "Nice of you to join us at last. I hope we didn't disturb you."

"Not as much as they disturbed you," Jack assured him cheerfully. "Ianto and I don't have the stamina you two do. He finished his marking at seven and was asleep by half past."

"I wish I'd finished my marking," he grumbled. "I've still got the year 7 tests to do."

Jack laughed and squeezed his shoulder again. "Well, that's something to do when we're full of beans after we've sorted this. Come on, Ant. What have we got?"

"Moderate Rift flare at half past ten. We don't have enough data from this site to say for certain, but based on the readings from Cardiff and Glasgow we'd have said that it was negative. We activated the remote sensors, though, and they've been picking up readings ever since." He looked up at the building and pointed. "They started in the library and they've spread out from there. Staying pretty confined, though, for the moment. Luke thinks it's the kids, but with the Rift flare and so little information, we don't want to take that risk."

"Let's hope it is just the kids, then, and you've not left them in there with something," Ianto murmured, glancing at Jack. "Where's Luke?"

Ant looked back over his shoulder. "Gearing up. He's running a lifesigns scan and getting the droids ready."

"They're ready," Luke announced as he arrived, a tablet in one hand and a pair of robots in the other. "We can let them loose on the second and third floors, see if they can find our life signs. The readings are all over the place, looks like they're trying to get out. We're not sure what they are yet, can't get a fix..."

Ianto sighed. "It's the kids." They looked at him and he shrugged. "I just saw Tanya at one of the windows."

"Alright," Jack said, laughing. "No droids today, Luke. We'll go in the way they did, keep the other entrances locked. Leave Ant at our entry point, and then Luke, Ianto and I will take a floor each. If they wanted to get out, they would have. I doubt they're even aware of anything happening."

"The Doctor came by." Ianto looked over at Luke. "Did he see you?"

"Yes. Left not long ago, actually, otherwise we might not have been taken by surprise so much." He smiled ruefully. "That's probably when they snuck past us, too. He..."

"Got talking and didn't stop for breath? Yeah," Jack sighed. "He does that. He got April back into her body, though?"

They nodded. "He told us how, but it made no sense so I ignored him," Luke laughed. "I think he just made it up as he went along, but as long as it worked, who cares?"

"Yep, good argument." Jack clapped his hands. "So let's go and make it up as we go along."

The school was quiet, for the most part, full of the gentle hum and blue light of computers on standby overnight. They moved without words, so well attuned to each other, even Luke and Ant settled into the rhythm by now. Ianto took the stairs, and indicated that Jack should keep going up to the top floor, leaving Luke on the ground floor. The scans showed nothing down there, but the kids were racing around. He let his hand brush against Jack's as they parted ways, and then edged silently down the corridor towards the library and, beyond it, the science labs. Up here it was anything up quiet. He heard a thunder of feet on the floor above, which came to an abrupt halt somewhere behind him, and more footsteps coming towards him. He found a light switch and waited by with his eyes closed, until the footsteps rounded the corner. April yelped as he turned the lights on, and when he opened his eyes she and Matteusz were blinking, dazed and blinded by the sudden change, and with tears running down their cheeks.

"I thought it would be you lot," he muttered. "What have you done this time?"

XxXxX

Charlie closed his eyes tightly, but that only made the lights flashing behind his eyelids even brighter. He moaned, fingers tangled in his hair, and curled up as tightly as he could. A ringing in his ears drowned out all sound, and when he tried to open his eyes again that was even worse. He choked on a sob, pressing one hand against his mouth and one against his churning stomach. Somehow he managed to cry out Matteusz's name, but as time dragged on the nausea abated and the ringing quitened, but no one came.

He forced his eyes open again and looked around. The bookcases were gone, replaced by a narrow brick corridor with a wooden floor. It was cold, a draft cutting down the corridor and the chill striking through his clothes from the bricks. A window on the opposite wall showed that it was as dark outside as it had been in London – possibly darker. He'd realised long ago that it was never really dark in London, even in the middle of winter. From what April had told him, the middle of winter was when it was brightest. He'd been looking forwards to seeing the lights on Oxford Street.

That was what did it in the end, and he accepted that, once more, he was stranded far from home. When he realised that he wasn't going to see the Christmas lights. Wasn't going to get to go ice skating and cling to Matteusz's hand so he didn't fall over, wasn't going to help Matteusz write those Christmas cards, wasn't going to dance with him at the Christmas party. And that was just a few months. He wrapped his arms around his knees and pressed his forehead against them, shoulders shaking with misery. Footsteps rang down the corridor towards him, fast and firm, and he dragged his head up to face them, only to be blinded again by the bright light of a torch flashing in his eyes.

XxXxX

"Of all the stupid ideas," Ianto snapped, pushing Ram ahead of him into the office. "What were you thinking?"

"Well we didn't exactly know it was possible for people to just disappear like that," Tanya shouted back at him. "It's the school, it should be safe!"

Ianto rolled his eyes. "We told you to stay out of this. It's not a game. There's a Rift in time and space running through your school. Those aliens, didn't you realise that they have to come from somewhere?"

"Where is he?" April demanded. "What's taken him, and where?"

"We have no idea." Ant threw himself into a chair and let it roll across to a computer. "It's a negative reading, but we have no way of knowing what's on the other side. There's a few signatures that we can recognise, but this... isn't one of them. The good news is that he's not wherever Weevils come from. I'll keep running the reports, see if we can get something. We'll know everything we can by morning."

She nodded. "How do we get him back?"

Ianto shook his head. "Even if we find a signature, that gives us location, not time. There are Rifts all across the universe. Some are as active as ours, on inhabited worlds, and things fall through them a lot. Some only open once. Most of the time it opens on nothing, and there's nothing to come through."

The silence that fell after that was broken by a quiet sob. They turned, slowly and reluctantly, to see Matteusz. Tears streamed down his cheeks, and he didn't resist when Jack reached out and pulled him into a hug. 

XxXxX

Charlie held a hand up against the light, and it moved away from him obligingly. The figure was still shrouded in darkness, even more so now he'd been blinded by the torch, but it stopped a way away from him. "You're not from round her" he said with a chuckle, gesturing at Charlie. "Those shoes are practically space age."

He sniffed and wiped at his face. "Who are you? How do you know that?"

The stranger laughed again. "I'm Captain Jack Harkness, Torchwood. And who are you?"


End file.
